Miss both goals in a City game? You're taking the...
I've worked every weekend since well before Christmas, so opportunities to see the Grecians in action have been few and far between — so much so that I had a personal crisis last week when I couldn't recall what colour shorts City wear!
Everything slipped unexpectedly into place on Saturday though.
One colleague offered to work through her break and another arrived early, leaving me free to make a dash for a much-needed fix of League One football just as Big Ben signalled it was 1pm.
By charging dramatically up and down escalators, sprinting along platforms and demonstrating a geeky knowledge of tube exit locations, I got myself to Euston station five minutes ahead of the last fast train to Milton Keynes that would get me there for kick-off.
I joined a short queue, bought a ticket and raced to the barrier, only to be told that I'd been sold a ticket that wasn't valid on the fast train. Privatisation, don't you just love it?
More careering around the station got me the right ticket, just in time to dive onto the back of the Manchester-bound train with doors beeping and whistles blowing.
I'd grabbed a small stack of magazines to read, but I was so sweaty and stressed that I just sat in my seat staring into space and trying to calm down.
It's hard to explain to fellow Exonians who are lucky enough to still be Devon-based how the prospect of watching a City game — even one at Milton Keynes — can seem quite unimaginably exciting. I'll admit it, readers, I'm homesick.
There was a double-decker shuttle bus waiting at Milton Keynes station and a helpful member of rail staff ushered me bus-wards having successfully identified me from behind as a visiting football fan.
You see. Sometimes it pays to have 'Carbrini' printed in foot-high letters down your back.
The shuttle bus to the ground was hardly packed. In fact, with just four of us on board, there are more crew members on a NASA space shuttle than punters on the Stadium:MK shuttle.
One of the four was a City fan called Stuart. He's a Watford season ticket holder who caught the Grecian bug while studying at Exeter University.
I was glad to bump into Stuart actually, since I was feeling a bit sheepish turning up for my first game since Oldham in mid-December.
Would I be slated as a fair-weather fan who'd deserted City in our mid-winter time of need? Stuart, however, hadn't seen City since we lost to Morecambe at Wembley and he's not been to the Park since we beat Burnley in 1994. In comparison, I'm a veritable contender for supporter of the year!
He's a paid up Trust member though, which makes you think doesn't it?
Stuart, like many others I guess, had paid 31 monthly Trust subs since he last saw the club he co-owns in action.
For all of its problems, the Trust concept has some real strengths and the ability to turn passive long-distance support into something tangible is surely one of the key benefits and something we can build on further.
There was still time for a couple of ciders before kick-off. I know that many fans who, like me, have grave reservations about the way Milton Keynes got itself a football club, choose to boycott refreshments when they visit MK. In my case, cider appetite trumps principles every time.
I really enjoyed the first half, with City playing some tidy football and creating by far the best chance of the half. MK seemed able to create good attacking positions, but thanks to some really solid defending, by Tully and Taylor in particular, the game stayed comfortably goalless.
A further half-time cider ensured that I missed Milton Keynes taking the lead just after the break, with just a distant "H'ray!" followed by a blast of 'Chelsea Dagger' over the PA system to convey the bad news to me in the away end gents.
With seven minutes of added time announced, I returned to relieve myself at the scene of Milton Keynes's first goal — the gents, not Andy Marriott's goal — and consequently missed the second goal of the game too. Geddon!
It was nice enough just to be with fellow Grecains and watching City again. But to salvage a point in the last minute, with a good finish too I've subsequently discovered, sent me skipping home very happily indeed.
I had a great time. Proof that absence does indeed make the heart grow stronger, if only it had the same effect on the bladder, too.
back of the net: Barry Corr celebrates scoring a goal that Echo columnist Alan Crockford missedPHIL MINGO/PINNACLE
